People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

[jamwal]

^^ True
Welfare economies like Australia. Canada, Eurostan etc. can provide support to low-cost manufacturing hubs like China for only so long. These western societies are becoming more and more communist rather capitalist in the way that hard workers are being taxed too much in order to support the lazy no-good part of population (and immigrants ) There are very ew incentives for working hard when government is virtually spoon feeding you.. Once the natural resources of these start drying up, all these folks are in for a rude shock.

[member_20036]

A Fireworks Truck Explodes, Shattering a Bridge in China

HONG KONG — A truck laden with fireworks exploded on an elevated expressway in central China on Friday, unleashing a blast that threw vehicles 30 yards to the ground below and killing at least nine people, state news reports said.

The truck was on an expressway near Sanmenxia in Henan Province in morning fog when the it erupted, causing an 87-yard section of the Yichang Bridge to collapse, according to the Web site of Dahe Daily, a newspaper in Henan, which quoted rescue officials at the site. Earlier, officials raised the possibility that a bridge collapse had set off the explosion.

Fireworks play a large role in China’s traditional Lunar New Year celebrations, which begin Feb. 9, and the explosion was a reminder of the dangers brought by the crush of people and goods on the move before the holiday.

China Central Television reported that one witness injured in the accident said that because of an earlier accident before the explosion, traffic had been snarled on the expressway and a number of vehicles had crashed into one another.

The deadly accident may also rekindle questions about China’s transportation infrastructure, which has expanded at a heady pace in recent years. In August, a 330-foot-long ramp section of a bridge in the northeast collapsed 100 feet to the ground and took four trucks with it, resulting in three deaths. That was the sixth major bridge in China to collapse since July 2011, according to a Xinhua report at the time.

None of the reports about the latest bridge accident raised questions about the quality of construction. One initial news report said at least 26 people had been killed, but officials on the scene later dismissed that number as too high, according to the Web site of People’s Daily, which said about 11 people had been injured.

Images on Chinese television and news Web sites showed rescuers clambering over the shattered remains of trucks that had plunged to earth, with part of one truck hanging off the severed section of the bridge. Reports from the scene said 10 to 25 vehicles had fallen off the bridge.

“A number of vehicles were crushed under the fallen bridge section, adding to the difficulties of the rescuers,” said a report on China Central Television.

After the explosion, the Ministry of Public Security convened a video conference with police officials across the country, urging them to tighten controls on the production and transportation of fireworks, according to the Web site of Legal Daily, a state-run newspaper.

[kancha]

Forget 1962, Says China to India

The Chinese assessment was conveyed to the Indian defence ministry’s team which visited Beijing [ Images ] on January 14 and 15 for the third round of the Annual Defence Dialogue between the two countries.

During the meeting with the Indian team led by Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma, the Chinese side asked India to forget the 1962 war as an ‘unfortunate’ thing of the past.

The Chinese side was ‘unusually warm’ during the third round of talks and wanted a formal border management agreement along the more than 4,000-km-long Line of Actual Control.

The Chinese side, the sources said, is expected to send proposals in this regard.

Beijing also wants to formalise a mechanism under which there will be no night patrolling by troops from both sides and if they cross each others' path, they will not follow each other, sources said.

[Christopher Sidor]

Christopher Sidor ji,

despite the low inflation and cheap goods, people in the West are still falling in debt traps, and the cost of social benefits are rising because there too few jobs supporting too many unemployed or earning low wages. Low wages are coming to the West as well.

Economy is indeed a sail ship and it is important to catch the wind, whatever wind comes along to push you forward.

Well not exactly. The story that you have outlined is of first decade of 2000, in which debt fueled a large part of so called lost decade. Those days are not coming back. Now the north Atlantic countries are on the mend. People are saving. Consider the report Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States Till Q3-2012 --- Federal Reserve Released Dec-2012

On page 64, Observe the "Credit Market Debt Outstanding" line number 3. That is the credit market debt held by households, observe the figures, you will see a decline from 13699.1 billion dollars (2008) to 12844.8 billion dollars (Q3-2012). A fall of 854 billion dollars.

Now on Page no 77, Observe the "L.109 Private Depository Institutions" line number 21 and 22. Checking Deposits are like SB accounts in India. The first preference for people to park their money. Offcourse in US the money market funds are also an option. Observe that Checking account has increased from 740.8 billion dollars in 2007 to 1451.6 billion dollars in Q3-2012 a rise of 710 billion dollars.
But this is not the shocker. Observe the line number 22, Small time and savings deposits. This increased from 5224.5 billion dollars to 7595.4 billion dollars. A rise of 2370.4 billion dollars, i.e. 2.3 trillion dollars.

If we combine the above mentioned figures, what we see is that the Credit market debt outstanding on US households is decreasing or is being withheld. But the liabilities are decreasing. Now see the amount of savings that only the US households are putting in. See the quantum of increase. And I have not even mentioned the decreasing mortgages liabilities of the US households. In nut shell US consumers are not going to spending like they did in the first decade of the 21st century.

Now why bring up these figures? Well let us assume that the Selling price of product X, is say 10 USD in America. It is manufactured somewhere in PRC and then shipped to US. Out of these 10 dollars, 2 dollar is the cost of producing the product in PRC. 1 dollar is the cost of shipping. 3 dollars is the taxes+surchages+duties that is put in PRC and in US. The rest i.e. 4 dollars is the profit that is shared between various entities involved.
Now if US consumer decides to spend only 9 USD on the product the price of the product will have to be cut. It will not be cut in the taxes+surchages+duties. The profits are sacrosanct. No company will modify it. The cost of shipping is very minuscule as compared to the other figures. That leaves what, only the cost of manufacturing.
What this means is that the US company, to whom the product X belongs, will shift the production to somewhere where the cost of manufacturing is low.
Now add to the fact that PRC is no longer seen to have an "inexhaustible" source of cheap labor. It is the law of Demographics, especially the one-child policy which is the primary cause.
Also due to this QE. Due to which inflation has been going up. PRC pegs its currency to USD. Oil and most other commodities are sold in USD. It is only recently that USD has regained its value. For most of the past 2-3 years it has declined. What this meant to an economy whose currency is pegged to USD is havoc. For the PRC economy the cost of raw materials, especially energy, has gone up.

The other countries of Europe are also on the mend. Barring Greece and Cyprus all the other countries of PIIGS will return to the market for fresh borrowings. We will see a turn around soon enough. Possibly in Q4-2013.

But what we will probably not see is a return to the heady days of first decade of 2000s. And if this possibility becomes a certainty then boss we are for some interesting times. That is not to say that PRC cannot preserve what ever it has done so far. It can, but that is a story for another time.

[Prem]

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/33 ... y-melchior

China’s Christians Thrive, Despite Increase in Persecution

Throughout 2012, Chinese persecution of Christians intensified, according to a new report from ChinaAid, a Texas-based organization that monitors religious freedom.The number of persecution cases increased in 2012, the seventh consecutive year where there’s been an uptick. But despite that persecution, Christianity is thriving in China, winning more and more converts.
If the Chinese government had its druthers, religion would not be practiced at all within its borders. Beijing fears a higher authority, and it’s also horrified by any group that is able to organize, particularly around an ideology or belief.But eradicating religion has proved impossible, so China has instead attempted to control it, creating a religious bureaucracy to oversee all sanctioned religious practice. The State Administration for Religious Affairs has broad authority within the sanctioned Catholic and Protestant churches; it can choose church leaders, decide how often worship services can be held, supervise activities, and even censor the content of sermons.
Some Chinese Christians attend unsanctioned churches on principle. But the growth of unofficial churches is also, quite simply, a function of demand. State-run seminaries turn out too few pastors for China’s growing Christian population. The unofficial churches have met this need, supplying their own training and churning out leaders. And many Chinese Christians attend both official and unsanctioned church events; they have an almost insatiable hunger to participate and learn about their faith as a group.ChinaAid reports that in the last year, Beijing has focused especially on eradicating underground and house churches.That’s a spectacularly counterproductive policy. The vast majority of Christians who worship in house churches or underground churches are not political; they love both their God and their country.Beijing’s eradication effort places Christians in an untenable situation, forcing them to choose. That politicizes believers who would otherwise be happy to ignore politics, read their Bibles, and quietly and peacefully worship.Though persecution has worsened, Christians have made progress in the last year, too—a fact that many Chinese Christians want their brethren in the West to know. More and more spiritually hungry Chinese are converting. As I’ve noted before, their charitable activity has won them admiration, even in government circles. Christian literature is being published and distributed to an unprecedented degree. And churches have not been inhibited by persecution. This English-language blog gives a platform to Chinese pastors, revealing an unexpected sort of ordinariness; the Christian church has matured to the point where it can worry about theological training, music services, marriage counseling, and other routine services.

[Suraj]

ChinaSmack has some interesting stories on things happening in PRC. Here's an eye-opening one:
Chinese family ashamed after little Japanese boy's visit
Summary: Japanese husband of Chinese relative brings a 6 year old Japanese boy with them on visit to PRC. Boy is extremely well-mannered and polite, and learning Chinese. 8 year old son of host is a rude spoiled brat who's taught in school that Japanese are evil, and proceeds to mock and insult his younger Japanese guest. In the process, he also reveals his parents have been telling him how Japanese attacked China and to boycott Japanese products. All very reminiscent of J N Dixit's 'Hindu kutta' episode in TSP.

[JE Menon]

Yes, a very illuminating article. Thanks Suraj for putting it up. It is also nice that the article itself was written by a Chinese and clearly articulates a very human position on the part of all the relatives... Very interesting.

[jamwal]

Edit: Sorry, didn't read the post above.
We all know a bit about use of a nationalist propaganda in schools, but what Chinese are doing is scary.
A little Japanese child came to our home, and embarrassed our entire family

However, my cousin’s son Peng Peng, who is currently in third grade, was full of hostility towards Jun Fu. Peng Peng knew early on that Jun Fu was Japanese, so when he met him, the very first thing he did was raise his little fist, and the first thing he said was: “Down with Little Japan!”

Jun Fu didn’t understand “Down with Little Japan”, but he was confused to see Peng Peng raise his fist. Of course, Peng Peng didn’t hit him either, only intending to scare him a bit, and Jun Fu was scared so much the color of his face changed.

My cousin hurriedly pulled Peng Peng to a side, rebuking him that this is a guest and he must not be impolite! Unexpectedly, Peng Peng began crying, saying the teacher said, “Japanese people are Chinese people’s enemy, you are all unpatriotic!”

I also explained to him that what the teacher is referring to is history, but now Japan is currently improving relations with China, and that the Japanese kid who has come to our home is kind-hearted and our friend.

Peng Peng became even angrier, saying: “Then why just recently daddy and mommy were talking about how Japan stole China’s land and we should boycott Japanese goods everyday? Our teacher at school recently had us watch an educational cartoon, which was all about us bringing down Japanese imperialism!”

Chinese parents really do like comparing their children to other people’s children, this cannot be denied. My cousin said she really wished Peng Peng was as thoughtful and easy to take care of as Jun Fu, having grown accustomed to picking up various kinds of garbage that Peng Peng leaves behind, cleaning and tidying up after him, doing this and that for him, with Peng Peng taking the best portions of food for himself as if that is how things are supposed to be, while they too give Peng Peng the best portions, spoiling him. But seeing how well-behaved, considerate, and polite Jun Fu was, even letting elders go first when eating, my cousin couldn’t help but say to Peng Peng from time to time: “Look at how that little brother so and so.”

The second day Jun Fu was here, Jun Fu friendly shared took his remote control car out and gave it to Peng Peng to play with. [Seeing this, I thought to myself,] Perhaps sharing was a part of the education they [Japanese children] receive. But on the third day, my cousin saw parts of the remote control car scattered all over Peng Peng’s room. She asked what happened, and Peng Peng viciously relied: “Boycott Japanese goods!”

That night, my parents, cousin and her husband, uncle and aunt, and I were all watching TV in the living room. My second cousin and her Japanese husband had gone out to do some shopping. Peng Peng brought Jun Fu out to the living room and while looking quite pleased with himself, he said Jun Fu had something to say to us.

Then Jun Fu, his cheeks blushing, hands fidgeting, smilingly and bashfully said something in his awkward Chinese:

“I’m a damn Jap! I’m sorry to all Chinese!”

Perhaps it is time for our patriotic education to be more objective. Our anti-Japanese sentiments should be softened too. Children are impressionable. Their hearts should be pure and good. When he sees his own compatriots setting fire to Japanese car dealers, smashing Japanese cars, surrounding and vandalizing JUSCO, or when the education in school involves instilling anti-Japanese hate, his patriotism has already begun becoming twisted. Furthermore, when recently there have even been people posting online about spraying themselves with Borancit [a **** type of product] and raping Japanese women into extinction, there is even less morality and rationality to be said.

Recently, I met an immigrant Chinese who said that most mainland Chinese think of Dalai Lama as a very evil person because of the education they receive. Her outlook was different because she spent most of her life outside China.

[jamwal]

From the same site:

I used to believe that Chairman Mao led the Eighth Route Army to defeat the Japanese invaders, winning independence for our nation.
Later I discovered that it was the blood-soaked brave fighting of the Nationalist army with the help of America that defeated the Japanese army.
I used to believe that the Red Army’s Long March to northern Shaanxi was to fight the Japanese.
Later I discovered that there weren’t any Japanese army in northern Shaanxi at all, and that the Red Army went there to escape with their lives.
I used to believe that the Chairman Mao-led movement of overthrowing landlords and carving up their land was to rid the people of evil.
Later I discovered that most of the landlords’ earned their possessions through hard work, and that they suffered appalling abuse.
I used to believe that the Great Famine in the 60s was the result of a natural disasters and the Soviet Union forcing us to pay back debt.
Later I discovered that during those years it was good weather for the crops, that it was caused by Mao’s “Catch up with the British and overtake the US” movement and the Great Leap Forward.
I used to believe that the voluntary army that joined the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea was to defend our country.
Later I discovered that the U.S. Army’s intention wasn’t to invade China, but to strike at the aggressor Kim Il-sung.
I used to believe the deeds of Kong Fansen, Jiao yulu, and Lei Feng.
Later I discovered that they were just established examples/role-models.
I used to believe that Huang Shiren oppressed the White Haired Girl.
Later I discovered that it was just a fictional story.
I used to believe Zhu De’s carrying pole. [It’s said that Zhu De used a carrying pole to carry food for the soldiers.]
Later I discovered that the carrying pole belonged to Lin Biao.
I used to believe that officials are the people’s servants, serve the people with their heart and soul.
Later I discover that it was only a cloth to cover up their corruption.
I used to believe that the people of the extremely evil capitalist countries were indifferent, only money was supreme.
Later I discovered that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett donated all their assets to charity.
I used to believe the USA’s presidential election was a game of the rich.
Later I discovered that the son of a poor African immigrant could also through hard work become the President of the United States.
I used to believe the Defensive Counterattack Against Vietnam was in self-defense.
Later I discovered it was an invasion of Vietnam, because Vietnam had topped the Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, a red evil Cambodian group that killed a quarter of its country’s population.
I used to believe that wumao hated America.
Later I discovered that the hero they bragged about had run into an American embassy for refuge.
I used to believe the American people lived in an abyss of extreme misery and suffering.
Later I discovered that the rich and the powerful [of China] have all immigrated there.
I used to believe that NPC representatives were of the people, representing the people’s will.
Later I discovered that most of them were from the billionaire club.
I used to believe that the U.S. invaded Iraq for their oil.
Later I discovered that the biggest oil field contract in Iraq was taken by Sinopec.
I used to believe that the people of Iraq supported Saddam Hussein, because every time he got 100% percentage of the vote.
Later I discovered that his statue was toppled by the people the second day he was overthrown.
I used to believe that the people of the German Democratic Republic were masters of their country.
Later I discovered that they would risk a rain of bullets to run to Federal Germany.
I used to believe that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was a country of democracy.
Later I discovered that it was the most tyrannical country on this planet.
…
When I discovered these truths, I was shocked. I’ve been living in lies all this time!

[rajkhalsa]

Just spreading the word to China watchers.... I found an awesome inline Mandarin text translator plugin for Firefox and Chrome called Perapera

Browse Chinese websites with this handy set of training wheels. Read articles in Chinese and quickly see the pronunciation and definition of new words as you encounter them. Just point your mouse to the word you want to see and it will popup with your preferred pronunciation format, and the definition.

Just be careful and disable java, flash and use a proxy and strong firewall when browsing when Chinese websites. They can be jump points for malicious hackers

[jamwal]

What goes on in their minds !!

[chaanakya]

http://www.sc mp.c om/news/china/article/1152009/dam-breached-shanxi-leads-flooding-and-evacuation
Shanxi reservoir collapse shuts down highway
(CNTV)


Well well , China is also involved in dam building in Pakistan. They need to worry about the poor quality of chinese constructions. Recently a elevated road was blown due to crackers blast .

The top of an irrigation water duct at the Quting Reservoir in northern China's Shanxi Province has caved in. This led to the partial collapse of its dam walls, causing some flooding, and parts of a national highway to be shut down.

Officials say residents near the reservoir have been evacuated. And no casualties have been reported. The Ministry of Water Resources has sent a work team to deal with the flooding.

PLA troops and paramilitary police have also been dispatched to help with rescue work. The No.108 national highway is still blocked due to silt on the road surface.

More details from another source. Not linked .

Residents near a reservoir in Shanxi province have been evacuated after part of its dam wall collapsed, causing flooding, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The top of an irrigation duct at the Quting reservoir in Hongtong county caved in on Friday morning, leading to the partial collapse of its dam walls, the report said, citing an unidentified local official.

No casualties have been reported and it was not clear how many residents were affected.

Officials said the irrigation duct was built in 1959 and attributed its collapse to its age.

Workers sent to the scene by the Ministry of Water Resources used sandbags and other materials to seal the breach.

A China News Service report said train services through the county had been suspended at Linfen , which administers Hongtong. A video clip circulating on the internet shows hundreds of passengers queuing at Linfen railway station to have their tickets refunded.

"The train stopped in Linfen for several hours because of an emergency at a dam in Hongtong. Some passengers have started insulting train conductors," Sina microblogger Yang Jie Zai Long Shang wrote yesterday.

Three hours later he wrote: "The train started again and will take another route for passengers travelling to Taiyuan . Other passengers are getting off the train and taking the bus."

The dam is described as medium-sized, with a capacity of 19 million cubic metres.

The water level in the dam dropped one metre on Friday, the report said.

State media reported that Shanxi governor Li Xiaopeng , the son of former premier Li Peng , had issued "many important instructions" to emergency workers, and that two of his deputies visited the site in person to lead the operation.

The accident comes a month after the Shanxi government was criticised for covering up two industrial disasters, including a toxic chemical spill that contaminated drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents living downstream in Hebei province.

The provincial government, led by Li when he was acting governor, waited five days to issue a public warning after nine tonnes of the industrial chemical aniline spilled into the Zhuozhang River last month.

The Shanxi government was also criticised for waiting eight days to confirm a December 25 explosion that killed at least eight workers at a tunnel construction site in Linfen.

The government only confirmed the blast after a torrent of online criticism.

[kish]

US pinpoints Chinese base of cyber attacks

It looks innocent enough ... the 12-story headquarters of Unit 61398 of the People's Liberation Army in Shanghai - and home to the most sophisticated of the Chinese hacking groups. (The New York Times) Photo: THE NEW YORK TIMES

ON THE outskirts of Shanghai, in a rundown neighbourhood dominated by a 12-storey white office tower, sits a People's Liberation Army base for China's growing corps of cyber warriors.

Increasing digital forensic evidence - confirmed by US intelligence officials who say they have tapped into the activity of PLA Unit 61398 for years - leaves little doubt that an overwhelming percentage of the attacks on US corporations, organisations and government agencies originate in and around the white tower.

A 60-page study, due to have been released on Tuesday by Mandiant, a US computer security firm, tracks for the first time individual members of the most sophisticated of the Chinese hacking groups - known to many of its victims in the US as ''Comment Crew'' or ''Shanghai Group'' - to the doorstep of the military unit's headquarters.

The company was not able to place the hackers inside the white tower but it says there is no other plausible way to explain why so many attacks come out of one comparatively small area.

[pankajs]

China admits existence of pollution-linked 'cancer villages'

BEIJING: Facing flak over poor pollution control measures, China for the first time has admitted the existence of "cancer villages" due to the production of certain harmful chemicals banned in developed countries.

The statement from the Environment Ministry came following scathing public criticism for poor pollution control measures as industrial waste, hazardous smog and other environmental and health consequences of years of rapid growth has made life miserable.

"Poisonous and harmful chemical materials have brought about many water and atmosphere emergencies... certain places are even seeing 'cancer villages'," said a five-year plan that was highlighted this week.

[pankajs]

China brands 30-year-old unmarried women as ‘left overs'

London: Causing a major outcry among the female population in China, the Communist government has labeled Chinese women failing to marry above the age of 30 as ‘left over women’.

The government, which has defined the official age for women being left on the shelf as 27, has ordered its feminist All-China Women’s Federation to use the derogatory term in several articles about the growing number of unmarried educated, professional, urban and single females aged 27-30, the Daily Mail reports.

According to one of the articles, pretty girls do not need a lot of education to marry into a rich and powerful family but girls with an average or ugly appearance will find it difficult, adding that those ‘failing’ to find a husband by the age of 30 are deemed ‘undesirable’.

According to the government, hordes of unmarried men roaming the country may cause social havoc so it is necessary for women to marry. The government wants to shame the women into marrying young to counter the population's growing gender imbalance, the report added.

[pankajs]

China holds general Li Shuangjiang's son for gang rape: Reports

BEIJING (AFP) - China has detained the 17-year-old son of a general on suspicion of involvement in a gang rape, reports said Friday, the latest allegation against the privileged children of officials to spark public outrage.

[pankajs]

Ex-Inmates Speak Out About Labor Camps As China Considers 'Reforms'

Shen Lixiu's story is numbingly familiar.

Officials in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing knocked down her karaoke parlor for development. She says they then offered her compensation that was less than 20 percent of what she had invested in the place.

Shen complained to the central government. Local authorities responded by sentencing her to a "re-education through labor" camp for a year. Once inside, Shen says, camp workers tried to force her to accept the compensation.

"I refused to sign my name," says Shen, 58, who has salt-and-pepper hair and wears a plum-colored, padded coat. "They beat me, knocked out my front teeth."

Shen reaches up and removes a set of false teeth. Her mouth forms a ghoulish grin with a dark gap where her four front teeth were kicked out.

She says fellow inmates beat her in exchange for reduced sentences — a practice human rights investigators say is common in these camps.

"Everyone went to sleep at night, not me," Shen recalls. "They gave me a small stool, forcing me to stand on it. Once you fell to the ground, people would come to beat you. They asked drug addicts and prostitutes to beat you up."

Those beatings proved effective. After seven months, Shen gave in. She signed the compensation agreement and was released, but she continues to protest what happened to her.

"I want to call on the leaders to abolish re-education through labor camps," she says. "Inmates can no longer be tortured like this."

'Like Profit-Making Enterprises'

In January, the Chinese government announced it would "reform" the nation's notorious re-education through labor camps. Under the current system, police can send people to the camps for years without trial, sometimes just for complaining about local officials.

"The system has drawn increasingly wide and fierce criticism from the public for years, and the need for reform is more necessary at present," read a commentary in China's state-run Xinhua news service last fall.

The government has yet to explain what reform would mean. However, the people who know the camps best — former inmates — say closing them is long overdue.

China's Ministry of Justice says 160,000 people were imprisoned in 350 re-education through labor camps at the end of 2008.

Inmates include prostitutes, drug users and people like Shen, who have petitioned the central government to try to redress the wrongs of local officials.

Local authorities often use labor camps to shut up their critics with minimal paperwork.

"Local officials don't want their dirty laundry to be aired in the open," says Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The police control the process. They don't have to go through the courts, and they don't have to present any evidence."

All they have to do is issue a document stating that an individual has disturbed social order, and that person can be sent to a camp for up to four years, Wang says. She adds, though, that actual sentences are shorter than they used to be and are now never more than two years.

The Communist Party built the labor camps in the 1950s to punish political enemies, including landlords and other capitalists. Today, the camps are driven by the same motives they were initially designed to punish.

"These re-education through labor facilities have become more like profit-making enterprises," Wang says, "for the local government to basically have free labor that they could force to work for many hours a day to produce products at very low cost for domestic and international consumption."

Desperate To Talk

Some former prisoners gathered recently at a dingy apartment buried among the alleys of south Beijing. They were so desperate to tell their stories that when a reporter arrived, they broke into applause.

The ex-inmates say they worked up to 16 hours a day making everything from circuit boards and uniforms to wire and blue jeans for little or no pay.

One of them, Tang Shuxiu, says she went to Beijing in 2011 to complain that her local government work unit hadn't given her an apartment to which she thought she was entitled.

Police picked her up before she got out of the train station.

"They asked, 'Are you here to petition?' I said, 'Yes,' " recalls Tang, who brought a mock-up of her labor camp identification card to pose with for photos so she can publicize the abuses of labor camps and push for change.

Tang, 51, says it never occurred to her to lie to the cops at the train station.

"I think petitioning doesn't mean I am doing something bad or committing a crime," she says. "I should tell the truth."

Like Tang, many petitioners are honest to their own detriment. Tang's candor landed her in a labor camp in eastern China's Jiangsu province for nearly a year. She says she spent more than 12 hours a day sewing the seams of blue jeans.

"When I first started making blue jeans, I worked slowly," she recalls. "Our team leader smacked my hands with his shoes. He said, 'These are all for export. You've got take it seriously.' "

Read the rest.

[sanjaykumar]

I try not to buy Chinese goods-this redoubles my resolve. Interesting that the western media seem to be shy of reporting this much.

[Mukesh.Kumar]

Official admission of dangers of pollution in China. X-posting from:

Yet more confirmation of the effects of reckless industrialization without thoughts of environmental impact

• BBC on Cancer Villages
  Strait Times, Singapore
  VoA

...........................................
An interesting infographic comes from a Chinese discussion board.

And probably the first mention is from a [url-http://english.caijing.com.cn/2013-02-21/112520130.html]Chinese [/url]news source two days ago.
.......

[abhishek_sharma]

Head of the Dragon: The Rise of New Shanghai

Shanghai, in 1989 and 2013. Excerpted from A History of Future Cities.

[SSridhar]

A not-so-sacred mountain - Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu

Wutaishan, or Wutai mountain, is one of the four “sacred mountains” for China’s Buddhists. The mountain, which houses some 50 temples, has been an important religious site since at least the 7th century Tang Dynasty, Chinese scholars say. In recent years, however, the sacred mountains of Buddhism have become sources of attraction not only for the devout — for increasing numbers of Chinese businessmen and government officials, a trip to the mountains (usually marked by sizeable donations) has become a common ritual. (On one recent trip to Hengshan, a sacred mountain in Hunan popular among Taoists, a group of Louis Vuitton-wielding party officials was seen offering donations in the hope of securing profitable promotions).

For the faithful, the commercialisation of sacred temples has become a source of some anxiety. But for some monks, however, it has meant a windfall, as a recent investigation into Wutaishan’s temples revealed. This month, six “fake monks” were arrested and two temples on the mountain closed down, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The monks were found to have “deceived tourists into donating money, buying expensive incense and paying unreasonable amounts for ceremonies”.

[pankajs]

China's countrymen struggling with a 'sick' Mother Earth

While air pollution makes greater headlines, some now believe soil pollution poses an even greater risk to China’s economy and population. Substances such as arsenic, lead, mercury, copper and cadmium have contaminated as much as 10 per cent of farmland, according to some estimates.
<snip>
Air pollution is more frequently reported,” said Pan Genxing, a soil pollution expert from Nanjing's Agricultural University. “Soil pollution needs more attention. Soil receives pollution and stores it. It is very hard to detoxify it or remove it.”

In January, the Chinese magazine Caixin echoed that verdict in a cover story entitled: ‘The unbearable weight of the soil’.

[jamwal]

You really can't make this up:
China wants to find PM2.5 a Chinese name, Netizens chime in

It’s another heavy smog day in Beijing, and the Chinese government finally decided to do something about it – to find PM 2.5 a proper Chinese name.

According to Xinhua News, the official news agency of China, the country’s National Committee for Terms in Sciences and Technology plans to give an official Chinese name to PM2.5, a Western term that has become an extremely high-frequency word in China in the past year.


PM 2.5 means particulates or particulate matters smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (about 0.0001 inches). PM 2.5 level (quantity per cubic meters) is a relatively new standard for air quality. In the past, there used to be TSP (Total Suspended Particulate) and PM 10 (particles with a diameter of 10 micrometers), both of which have corresponding Chinese names. For example, PM 10 is Sniffable Particles (back-translated from its Chinese name of “可吸入颗粒物”).

PM 2.5, though a buzz word, has never been given an official Chinese name; and that’s unacceptable. For the Chinese government to effectively manage PM 2.5 (or anything really), it, of course, needs to be talked about in Chinese first.

[member_20317]

US pinpoints Chinese base of cyber attacks

It looks innocent enough ... the 12-story headquarters of Unit 61398 of the People's Liberation Army in Shanghai - and home to the most sophisticated of the Chinese hacking groups. (The New York Times) Photo: THE NEW YORK TIMES

ON THE outskirts of Shanghai, in a rundown neighbourhood dominated by a 12-storey white office tower, sits a People's Liberation Army base for China's growing corps of cyber warriors.

Increasing digital forensic evidence - confirmed by US intelligence officials who say they have tapped into the activity of PLA Unit 61398 for years - leaves little doubt that an overwhelming percentage of the attacks on US corporations, organisations and government agencies originate in and around the white tower.

A 60-page study, due to have been released on Tuesday by Mandiant, a US computer security firm, tracks for the first time individual members of the most sophisticated of the Chinese hacking groups - known to many of its victims in the US as ''Comment Crew'' or ''Shanghai Group'' - to the doorstep of the military unit's headquarters.

The company was not able to place the hackers inside the white tower but it says there is no other plausible way to explain why so many attacks come out of one comparatively small area.

Looks the part.

Like those Faraday caged, EMP/RF protected structures.

[pankajs]

Pollution activist assaulted in China

One fifth of China’s rivers are so polluted that the water quality is too poisonous for human contact, while 40 per cent of all waterways are seriously polluted, according to information released by state media.

Mr Chen had made it his life’s purpose to shutter the paper mills poisoning his local rivers. His daughter, 32-year-old Chen Xiufang, said there had been a mystery illnesses in the family. However, his online offer incurred the wrath of local government officials.

Ms Chen told The Irish Times that he was ill-prepared for the outburst of aggression that followed. After he made his own modest online posting, a group of people came to his house and badly beat him.

“At 6am on the 24th, around 40 men and women in plain clothes who were recruited by the government came to the house, and only my father was at home. They came in and they started smashing everything,” said Ms Chen.

She said her father hid in the room and called the police. After this, she went out and found the local police chief, but he insisted he was in a difficult situation.

Ms Chen said her father was injured and he had been on a drip for three days.

[jamwal]

Chinese Tourists Behaviour Gets Slammed by Chiang Mai Residents

According to a feature published on the South China Morning Post website last Thursday, numerous Chiang Mai residents are appalled by the general attitude of the tens of thousands Chinese tourists flowing into the city since the release of the movie last year. According to reports many Thais working in the tourist industry find Chinese tourists’ behaviour “disturbing and rude”, others have referred to “cultural clashes”, says the South China Morning Post.

The newspaper reported that Chinese tourists are “loud”, and have a “tendency to not flush the toilet”, it is also reported in the paper that Chinese tourists throw litter over their balcony or often sleep too many guests to a room. One high-end hotel owner in Chiang Mai also agreed with this, telling CityNews that his Chinese guests often didn’t eat in the hotel, did their own laundry, and slept many to a room in order to save money.

Locals, the newspaper reported, have also criticised the driving habits of the Chinese saying that they have no respect for the highway code and often suddenly stop in the middle of busy roads. The Chiang Mai Governor’s office recently issued a report stating that they would try and help tourists understand safe driving rules,but also adding “especially Chinese tourists”.

Public behavior has also been criticised, such as habits like spitting, littering and queue-jumping.

This news article provoked some reactions from internet users within China who for the most part agreed with the Thai criticism. Nonetheless, this kind of extreme generalising, and you might add racism, is bound to upset a lot of people, and perhaps backfire for those doing the criticising.

[jamwal]

Censorship on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, is near real-time and relies on a workforce of over 4,000 censors who stop work during the evening news, according the first detailed analysis of censorship patterns.

The Chinese version of Twitter is a microblogging service called Weibo which launched in 2010. This allows users to post 140 character messages with @usernames and #hashtags, just like Twitter– although 140 characters in Chinese contain significantly more information content than in English.

In just three years, Weibo has picked up some 300 million users who between them send 100 million messages each day at the rate of 70,000 per minute. That makes the inevitable process of censorship a tricky task for the Chinese authorities. So an interesting question is how they do it.

Today, Dan Wallach at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and a few pals reveal the results of a detailed study of censorship on Weibo. Their method has allowed them to reconstruct the censorship techniques used by the government, to calculate the number of workers who must be involved and even to discover their daily work schedules.

The work is possible because at least some of the content on Weibo is not censored prior to publication, only afterwards. Their approach was to collect posts from a set of users once every minute. They then tracked these posts to see which ones later became unavailable.

Of course, it’s not feasible to track everyone on Weibo so Wallach and co spent some time looking for users who seemed to have posts deleted more often than others, assuming that these users would be more likely to be censored in the future. Using this manual technique, they ended up observing some 3500 users over a period of 15 days last year who between them experienced around 4500 deletions per day, or about 12 per cent of the total.

Not all deletions are the result of censorship, however, since a user can delete his or her own posts. Wallach and co say that through their own trial and error they observed two types of deletion which return different messages. When users delete their own messages, a query for the post returns a “post does not exist” error message.

However, when a post is deleted by the censors, Weibo returns a different message saying: “permission denied”. It is these second type of deletions that Wallach and co concentrated on.

The results of their study are fascinating. They say that in their data set about 5 per cent of the deletions occur within 8 minutes of posting and around 30 per cent within 0 minutes. In total, 90 per cent of deletions occur within a day, although at times deletions can occur several days later.

Those are impressive numbers given the popularity of the microblogging service. How does Weibo manages this task?

Wallach and co say their data point to a number hypotheses about what’s going on. Since the highest volume of deletions occur within 5-10 minutes of posting, Weibo must be censoring them in near real time. If an average censor can scan around 50 posts a minute, that would require some 1400 censors at any instant to handle the 70,000 posts pouring in. And if they work 8 hour shifts, that’s a total of 4200 censors on the payroll each day.

Even then, this work force must have some technological help. Wallach and co say the data suggests Weibo has a number of techniques in operation. The first is keyword alerting. When a keyword appears, the post is immediately flagged for censors.

However, this is no mean feat since the Chinese language is notoriously hard to filter in this way because of the complexity of its alphabet and because of the neologisms and shortened language that is used on Weibo.

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One question that this study does not address is why the authorities allow uncensored Weibo posts to appear in public at all. Given the formidable censorship machine in operation, why not block publication of all posts for 30 minutes or so, until the censorship is largely complete?

Wallach and co seem to suggest that this is possible. They say that on 1 August 2012, they tried to post a message including the phrase “Secretary of the Political and Legislative Committee.” “When we submit a post with this character string in it, a warning message says “Sorry, since this content violates ‘Sina Weibo regulation rules’ or a related regulation or policy, this operation cannot be processed. If you need help, please contact customer service.”

So clearly some posts are blocked before they even reach public view.

[pankajs]

China eyes residence permits to replace divisive hukou system

(Reuters) - China's new leaders are planning a system of national residence permits to replace the household registration or 'hukou' regime, a government source said, a vital reform that will boost its urbanization campaign and drive consumption-led growth.

The hukou system, which dates to 1958, has split China's 1.3 billion people along urban-rural lines, preventing many of the roughly 800 million Chinese who are registered as rural residents from settling in cities and enjoying basic urban welfare and services.

"If they don't get it right, instead of growing a middle class, they are going to grow a huge underclass in the city, and that's very scary," said Kam Wing Chan, a population expert at the University of Washington.

"Without granting urban hukou to rural urban migrants it is very hard to turn them into the middle class. They will always be second class," he said.

Peasants now do not have the freedom to sell their land at market prices, which has exacerbated China's wide rich-poor gap and made many reluctant to fully abandon their rural plots.

Officials like Chen Xiwen, head of the Central Committee's rural working group, have cautioned against urbanization, saying it could lead to a shrinking of farms as land is converted to other uses.

Migrant workers have for years lamented inequalities in the hukou system, like the lack of local medical coverage or equal access to higher education.

[pankajs]

x-post
----------------
China bets on consumer-led growth to cure social ills

[pankajs]

Is Data on Land Pollution Really a National Secret?

Despite an increasing number of public calls for the information to be released, the Ministry of Environmental Protection recently refused, saying it was a national secret. This has triggered public outcry.

On February 24, Dong Zhengwei said the ministry rejected his request for data on land pollution. According to the Beijing lawyer, it said: "The survey data on national land pollution is a national secret and will not be published according to related regulations."

The information Dong sought was related to a national investigation into land pollution across the country conducted by the environmental ministry and the Ministry of Land and Resources from 2006 to 2010. The survey is believed to be the most comprehensive inspection on China's land pollution to date.

Dong questioned whether such basic information on the environment should be labeled a national secret. Many in the public agree with this view.

In its reply to Dong, the ministry did not explain why the latest data was a state secret.

We can guess that there are three possible reasons. First, the survey covers most of the country's territory, including military areas. Thus, it is reasonable that the data should not be made public. However, the ministry could filter this sensitive information out and release the rest.

The second possible reason is that there are flaws in the survey's methodology that made the statistics incomplete, and the ministry thought it was too early to release the data. If so, this is understandable, and the ministry should make this clear to the public.

The final possibility is that the survey findings indicate a severe problem and the ministry is concerned about the public's reaction.

If this is the case, there is no need for the government to be worried. Officials had the same concerns before data on air and water pollution were released. However, this transparency did not trigger instability. Rather it pushed forward efforts to prevent pollution.

Perhaps the data is so bad that the government has reasons to fear the public reaction.

[Agnimitra]

On the struggle of the Dai minority in southern Yunnan, bordering Myanmar and related to India's NE.

Never say Dai

[prashanth]

Pakistan middle class fixes sights on China-TOI

.....has enrolled under Rashid precisely because of the Chinese influx into Pakistan's northern province of Gilgit-Baltistan, where China is widening the highway to its border.

According to Pakistan's embassy in Beijing, around 8,000 Pakistani students are already studying in China and thousands more are preparing to join them.

Former ambassador to Beijing and Washington Riaz Khokar said wealthy Pakistanis tend not to return after studying in the West, but China offers a technical education that will benefit the Pakistani economy.

"The Chinese economic presence in Pakistan is growing so why should there be Chinese managers or Chinese at various levels? The idea was (that) we should train."

China has accused the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which wants an independent homeland in the western Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang, of training "terrorists" in Pakistan, although experts question how much of a threat they are.

But the relationship has few of the tensions that Pakistan suffers with the United States, which repeatedly presses Pakistan to do more to clamp down on militants who launch attacks on American and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

"I have dealt with their intelligence, I have dealt with their army, I have dealt with everybody at the highest level. They have never told us 'do this or we will kick you as the US

[krishnan]

Yes, they never tell, they silently do it

[Suraj]

I welcome the migration of increasing numbers of Pakistanis to China, and hope their numbers increase with each passing year. Only good things can come out of this. For India.

[VinodTK]

China eyes India trade by boosting spending in Nepal

KATHMANDU: China's ambassador to Kathmandu was recently pictured in a traditional Nepali cap and silk scarf, digging with a spade to symbolize the laying of the foundations of a new dry port near the Tibet border.

The photo opportunity marked the latest in a series of major projects that underscore China's growing economic influence in Nepal, where it is building roads and investing billions of dollars in hydropower and telecommunications.

Other Chinese projects in its impoverished, electricity-starved Himalayan neighbour include a USD 1.6 billion hydropower plant which is expected finally to end power outages which extend to 14 hours a day in winter.

Meanwhile, China recently completed a 22km stretch of road in central Nepal connecting the country's southern plains with the Tibetan county of Kyirong, to form the shortest motorable overland route between China and India.

Analysts have questioned whether Beijing's largesse is a gesture to a neighbour in need, or the result of a foreign policy which increasingly sees Nepal's roads and dry ports as a doorway to the huge markets of India.

"I am sure that these infrastructure projects will help win influence in Nepal but they will serve a dual purpose," said Purna Basnet, a Nepalese political commentator who frequently writes on Chinese influence in Nepal.

"It will be easier for China to supply goods to India via Nepal. There is even a talk of connecting Kathmandu with their rail networks in Tibet.

"The Shigatse-Lhasa railway will be completed in a couple of years. From Shigatse, they have plans to connect Kathmandu through railways."

Nepal has always been in the shadow of India, which has traditionally exerted huge political influence and is Kathmandu's biggest trading partner and sole provider of fuel.

Since the end of a bloody decade-long civil war in 2006 and the emergence of the Maoist rebels who fought the state as the largest political party, China has been gradually — and literally — making inroads as a counterweight to India.

Chinese ambassador Yang Houlan outlined his country's vision of Kathmandu as a trade gateway to New Delhi in a recent op-ed article in Nepal's English-language Republica newspaper.

"From an economic viewpoint, Nepal links China (with 1.3 billion people) with South Asia (with 1.5 billion). The huge common market provides great opportunities for both China and South Asia," he wrote.

"China is pushing its 'Develop West' strategy, and South Asia represents one of the main overseas investment opportunities. Nepal could provide China the much-needed overland channel to South Asia."

China's commitment to Nepal is outlined by its construction of a further five dry ports in the Himalayan region where the treacherous terrain marks the 1,414km long border.

It has also offered to fund an international airport in the tourist hub of Pokhara.

On top of infrastructure development, around two dozen Chinese companies have invested USD 100 million in housing, hotels, restaurants and other areas of tourism in Nepal.

[pankajs]

China cracks down on rebel village of Shangpu

Dozens of villagers in Shangpu were hospitalised and six people were arrested, according to witnesses.

"They came at about midnight, or maybe half an hour later. They cut off the power first," said one villager involved in the fracas.

"Around 60 people were injured, mostly older people. Some of them had broken bones, one had a stun grenade explode in his face and may need to go to the provincial hospital," he added.

"There were more than 3,000 officers. All the roads were full of police cars and other vehicles. People with friends in the public security bureau said 3,000 to 4,000 people were sent."

For the last three weeks or so, the villagers of Shangpu have been locked in a stand-off with the local government over a 33 hectare plot of land that they claim was sold out from underneath them without their consent.

In late February, several hundred thugs armed with steel pipes and spades threatened the village with retribution if they did not accept the deal.

The villagers, however, retaliated and chased the thugs away, burning many of their cars and then using the wrecks as a barricade to block the road.

"We are still not happy because the land contract has not been returned to us. We are defending the village now with live-or-die determination," said the villager. He added that he expected more senior Communist party leaders to make a decision.

[kish]

X-Post from PRC economy thread

China’s Leaders Take Aim at Railways Ministry

The ministry’s ability to throw money around to get things done and preserve its power in the end helped bring it down. Liu Zhijun, the bullet train network’s top booster, was ousted as minister two years ago, amid accusations that he took massive bribes and steered contracts, some of them associated with the high-speed rail network. Among his rumored misdeeds: having 18 mistresses.

18 mistresses? no wonder ordinary chinese are not getting a bride, communist party biladels are having a good time leaving the common man to suffer.

Who is going to pay the debt that is expected to amount to nearly 3 trillion yuan?” said Zhao Jian, a railway expert at Beijing Jiaotong University. He said the official debt figure is 2.6 trillion yuan ($414 billion), but he estimates it will go higher as ongoing projects are completed

What idiotic question is this? may be they can ask their tallel fliend pakis to pay the debt.

[arun]

X Posted from the “Indian Cyber Warfare Discussion” thread.

India at the receiving end of P.R. China based officially sponsored cyber spying targeting our Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL):

India's secrets are in Guangdong

[James B]

In Pakistan, they say - Pigs Fly but in China, the Pigs Float

Nearly 6,000 dead pigs in river but water's fine, Chinese officials say

5,916 dead, bloated pigs and counting. Chinese officials say they expect to find more carcasses floating in the river that flows through the center of Shanghai -- but they insist the city's water is fine.

[pankajs]

Cyberwar and Secrecy Threaten China's Dams

When China's top generals warned against building the Three Gorges Dam in the 1980s, fearing it would become a "strategic target" for China's enemies, they imagined the weapon of choice would be dam buster bombs.

Now, 25 years later, as the threat of cyber warfare grows, China's military men must worry about modern day weapons -- malicious software infiltrating computers that control critical systems like pumps, motors, alarms, and valves that could allow an attacker to take control of the world's largest dam, along with other critical infrastructure.

This nightmare scenario isn't just the material of spy thrillers.

In 2010, when Stuxnet, a computer virus dubbed the world's "first cyber superweapon," infected Siemens' control systems and caused Iran's nuclear centrifuges to spin out of control, it also attacked six million computers and nearly 1,000 industrial control systems in China, according to Beijing-based antivirus service provider Beijing Rising International Software. Siemens, a German multinational, is one of China's biggest overseas suppliers of industrial computers.

Others were less sanguine about the threat. Professor Sun Jianping, a hydropower expert who led a study on the reliability and stability of the generators at the Three Gorges Dam, told the South China Morning Post: "If someone hacks into the system and takes over, we will be blinded and disabled. It could cause more destruction than a bomb." According to U.S. hydrologist Dr. Philip Williams, catastrophic dam failure at Three Gorges would "rank as one of history's worst man-made disasters."

China is currently building more than 170 new mega dams, all of them strategic targets. Compounding the risk that each poses to China's security, is the fact that many are being built in cascades, so close to one another that catastrophic failure at one upstream, causing a tsunami -- would likely mean failure of those downstream.